


avowal

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Finn Skywalker, Fluff, Kissing, POV Finn (Star Wars), Pining, Space Prince Finn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-14 14:30:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11785110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: Poe’s brow arched and his lips thinned. “Rey had her choice of eleven different suitors or none at all,” Poe pointed out, reasonable and utterly misconstruing everything all the same. “She chose you.”“Because we’ve known each other the longest.”Obviously.





	avowal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [some_where](https://archiveofourown.org/users/some_where/gifts).



Finn’s collar tightened just that little bit more—or seemed to as he tugged at the high hem of it, the pads of his fingers catching on the intricate embroidery. Linen was supposed to be forgiving, but he couldn’t tell anything of the sort from the constriction he felt while wearing this particular suit. The sash and cape, too, threatened to strangle him. Everything about today weighed him down.

As more and more people filtered into the hall around him, the thought of sneaking out the back and leaving the planet behind grew almost irresistible.

“Whoa, buddy,” Poe said, a steadying presence at his side. His hand wrapped itself tight around Finn’s elbow, the grip conveying with action what Poe wouldn’t speak with words. _You’re not going anywhere. Your father would kill me._ You _would kill me. You already threatened as much. Okay, maybe your father wouldn’t kill me, but he’d be very disappointed. And you would probably make my life miserable for letting you jump ship. Maybe. Come on, pal._ “You can do this.”

“I can’t,” Finn answered, hushed, careful to keep a smile on his face even it it was fragile. The two of them were mostly protected by a table and hundreds of years of decorum. Nobody approached a prince until a prince summoned them. Finn might have eyed a cam droid that floated perilously close, but even those were regulated. His words wouldn’t be splashed across the Holonet today. “It’s not fair to Rey.”

Poe’s brow arched and his lips thinned. “Rey had her choice of eleven different suitors or none at all,” Poe pointed out, reasonable and utterly misconstruing everything all the same. “She chose you.”

“Because we’ve known each other the longest.” _Obviously_.

“Yeah, sure.” Poe’s free hand flaps through the air. “And why is it you made the offer if you’re so against the match again?”

Finn frowned. To be honest, he’d asked himself the same question many, many times over the course of his engagement to Rey. He’d asked his father. He’d even asked Poe. There was no good answer except the truth: he cared for her. Along with Poe, she was his oldest friend, after all. Of course he cared for her.

And he could see himself spending the rest of his life with her. Even if it wasn’t quite what he wanted, what he imagined for them. Neither of them were meant for political matches. Not that he’d meant to _imagine_ anything for them.

That it was beneficial to both of their planets was neither here nor there. That his father adored her was, too. Luke Skywalker always did have a funny sense of humor. If Rey’s brash outspokenness sometimes scandalized their respective courts, well, that was just a bonus as far as Finn and his father was concerned.

Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. “I never should have done this to her.”

Poe rolled his eyes, less annoyed than fond, and squeezed Finn’s arm, consoling. “It’ll all work out the way it’s meant to. You’ll see.”

And then Rey walked into the hall and Finn couldn’t see anything except how lovely Rey looked. The simple cut of her dress outshone the more elaborate styles favored here. Her eyes gleamed, warm and brown and happy, under the lights. Her smile, already radiant, spread even wider across her face when she caught sight of Finn. Abandoning the retinue of people surrounding her, she split the crowd of well-wishers with her mere presence and strode, purposeful and proud and unheeding of decorum, toward Finn.

Clothed in fine shades of pearl gray, she was a vision.

Finn couldn’t help but smile back, of course, his cheeks hurting with the effort. Even if he tried to smother it, he would have failed. He knew; he’d tried before. It wasn’t worth trying again. And the way her eyes lit up when they flickered to his mouth, he wouldn’t have wanted to.

“Finn!” She didn’t run, but her steps did quicken slightly. A strand of hair loosened from the complicated knot of hair at the base of her neck. His fingers tightened into a fist to keep from lifting to push it behind her ear. And once she threw herself into his arms for the big, tight hug she always gave him when they saw one another—hundreds of years of protocol be damned—the temptation was even greater. For his ears alone, she added, “I’ve missed you.”

“Me, too.” His hands grasped at her hips, then up the middle of her back, his fingers tracing over countless tiny buttons. This was okay. They’d hugged a hundred times, a thousand over the years. She even wore the same perfume she always did, a dry, tantalizing mix of _yeela_ spice and _boori_ cream. It spoke to him of comfort, of steadfastness. Not the first thought most people would have about Rey, but Finn was not most people. “You look beautiful.”

She pulled away slightly and beamed at him. Eyes twinkling, she looked him up and down. Her fingers plucked at the silk of his sash and ran through the fabric like water running through a stream. “You, too.”

Finn’s cheeks warmed and he ducked his head, gathering the courage to ask the one thing that mattered. “Are you sure about this?”

“Oh, yes,” she answered. No hesitation. “Of course.”

Poe nudged him, not quite pointed enough to hurt, but more than enough to make Finn aware that Poe now had evidence that he was right and Finn had been worried for no reason. _See_ , that nudge said, _things are going to be just fine. What did I tell you?_ Poe was very eloquent when he wanted to be. His every action spoke multitudes

The ceremony passed in a whirl of color and sound and scent. By the end of it, Finn was exhilarated. And exhausted. And more than that, completely flabbergasted to know he was _married_. To _Rey_.

As soon as he finished saying the last of his vows, the traditional words he repeated at aunt Leia’s behest—family always officiated and Finn couldn’t be happier about it—Rey reached for him, her palms cool against his cheeks, and pulled him into a kiss.

A kiss.

He’d forgotten about the kiss.

Rey’s lips were soft against his, urgent, as she pressed herself against him. She gave everything to it, as she gave everything in all aspects of her life. Finn could get used to it.

When Rey took a step back, her cheeks were pink, her lips even pinker than they were. Chewing at the corner of her mouth, she lowered her eyes.

Finn thought she might’ve been biting back a smile; he hoped that was the case. He wanted—

“I love you,” he blurted out. Not loud enough for anyone to hear, but obvious enough to get picked up by the cam droids and most of the people in attendance anyway just by following the shape of his words as he spoke them. He was surprised to realize it was true.

He loved her.

He _loved_ her.

And the way she threw herself against him for the second time in nearly as many hours, her arms tight around his neck as she laughed, he realized the feeling must have been mutual all along.


End file.
